Why It’s Wrong to Say the Washington Establishment Is Out of Touch

Sep 14, 2015

RUSH: Folks, the Drive-By Media today is just still buzzing over polling data that they don’t expect, and it has become abundantly clear that many in the Drive-By Media and many in the Republican establishment are getting or nearing the end of their frustrations with Donald Trump. Because as each new poll comes out it shows that Trump has gained ground — and now he’s gained ground over Hillary.

Now Trump is kicking Republican ass in California. That has not been done by anybody in California since… Well, when? Pete Wilson? I don’t know when the last time that there was a Republican in California doing well in anything. Well, maybe Schwarzenegger. Yeah, Schwarzenegger, for a while. But we all remember what happened there. But the Drive-By Media’s frustration and the inside-the-Beltway establishment frustration continues to display over Trump.

But, you know, in addition to Trump, there’s a Trump-like story happening on the Democrat side. It’s not getting near the attention because Bernie Sanders is not a Trump-like personality. He’s just an aging hippie communist, and he’s running around buffooning his way into major success against Hillary Clinton. The next thing the Drive-Bys are just blown away by is apparently white women are…

This is all polling data, now. But white women are abandoning Hillary in droves. And they can’t figure it out inside the Beltway. Folks, we all know — and we talk about it a lot — this disconnect that exists between the people who are in the political class and the country. You might say the people who run the country, inside the Beltway. I hate to say that, but people in Washington, inside the corridor, from finance to media to politics to general business.

The people that think they run the country are obviously more and more disconnected from the country than ever before. It’s to the point now that I think it’s incorrect to say that they’re out of touch. I don’t think they’re out of touch. I think they know full well. I don’t think they want to be in touch with what we would call the mainstream of the country or even flyover country or outside the Beltway. They know full we’ll they’re out of touch.

They’re not stupid, and they’re not unobservant. They’re stubborn and they are obstinate. They are elitists, and I don’t think they want any part of what life for most people in the country is all about. They revel in the opportunity they have to not have to live that life. And never has there been (or is there) a greater illustration of what I mean than the subject of immigration. It really is true.

The people that are sponsoring and are for this massive amnesty and not stopping this invasion… Don’t forget, these are the people who promised to build a wall and never did. These are people that always tell us that border security is the first thing they’re gonna do, but they never do it. They know fully well what the rest of the country wants, and they in no way, shape, manner, or form are gonna deliver it. They don’t have to. They’re not affected by anything they do.

That’s the great dividing line now. They can sit in Washington or wherever they are. State capitals, you pick it, but primarily Washington. They can sit there and they can mandate things like Obamacare, and they can mandate all these punitive regulations and rules on everyday life. They can demand, sponsor, promote, cheat, cajole, whatever, to try to get amnesty, because they’re not gonna be personally affected by it.

They are not going to live in crime-ridden areas that are crime ridden because of immigration or anything else they do. They’re not gonna have to live in Ferguson, Missouri, or Baltimore or anyplace they impose their policies, such as the Obama Justice Department running all these local police departments now. It’s never been more true that the establishment types have two sets of rules, and one set is for all of us to live by and the other set is for them to live by.

And their rules exempt them from the rules they have for all of us. And it’s never been more obvious. It’s not that they’re out of touch. They know full well. It’s just that if there is a seminal change politically — and this is arguable. It is that politics or affairs of state, governance in Washington is now less and less and less determined by election results, except for winners and losers, and by public opinion. You look at the Iran deal.

Twenty-nine percent of the American people are in favor of Obama’s deal permitting the Iranians to continue building is their nuclear weapons program. Oh, speaking of which, did you see the latest on this? The Iranians just happened to discover over the weekend — it’s a miracle, folks! — a phenomenal deposit of uranium within their country. Did you know that? Now, you may say, “Well, why’s that important, Mr. Limbaugh?”

It’s very key, because the Obama Iran deal, for the most part, if it were to be enforced (a big “if”), did put limits on the amount of uranium the Iranians could import, and amount of uranium you could import and then use would of course have a demonstrable effect on weapons creation, weaponization of materials and so forth. But now all of a sudden, they found their own uranium deposits! Who knew! They’ve got their own supply of uranium and nobody even knew.

It means that one of the key elements of Obama’s Iran deal is irrelevant, just like the whole deal is irrelevant. But back to my main point. Twenty-nine percent of the American people, supposedly, support it. Over half… I don’t know and don’t care what the number is. But well over half the American people actively oppose it. It doesn’t matter. It didn’t matter, and it never was going to matter, public opinion on this issue. Which you might say, “Well, so what?”

Well, it means that politicians have now reached the point where they don’t think they even have to secure public opinion to win elections. Or maybe I could state it a better way. Maybe the only time they have to even appear interested in public opinion is while campaigning, and then if they are elected, then everything that was said in the campaign is pretty much out the window. Whatever public opinion is on immigration… Pick one.

Folks, this country — in poll after poll — a majority never, ever supported Obamacare. A majority and never even close to a majority supported the Iranian nuclear deal. Never, ever a majority. I mean, active majorities opposed to amnesty, and yet look what’s happening. So don’t say they’re out of touch. This is both parties. What is happening here is that the establishment — and it’s been intensify under Obama, I will have to admit.

But it’s now a governance against the will of the people, and there’s not even that much pandering anymore. What there is is open contempt. There is open contempt for what the American people support and don’t support. There is open contempt for the American people that don’t see it the way the establishment sees it. You know, you can see this clearly as the establishment desperately tries to tell themselves, “When it is that Trump is gonna bomb out?” That is their preoccupation now.

That is their singular objective. Whoever predicts it, whoever is being right is gonna be heralded as the smartest guy in the room — or woman, whoever. Whoever accurately predicts when Trump is defeated, whoever accurately predicts when Trump gets out — if any of this happens. But this is what they’re obsessed with. “When’s Trump gonna blow it? How’s Trump gonna blow it? Who’s gonna make Trump blow it? What’s gonna happen? What’s gonna do Trump in? What’s finally gonna catch up with Trump?

“Trump is just entertainer!” This is what they’re obsessed with, and you can see it both parties. “He’s not a real conservative! He’s causing everybody to compromise their conservative beliefs!” On the left side of things, “He’s a mean-spirited extremist! He won’t work, can’t hold up,” and yet every theory — every operative theory, every axiom about success and failure in American presidential politics — has been blown to smithereens in the Trump campaign.

On the conservative side, another way to illustrate this, for example, is the inside-the-Beltway establishment conservatives. By the way, I don’t say this with any animus toward them. I’m just objectively describing things for you here. And I have been amused to watch this. ‘Cause we’d have to admit, would we not, that the inside-the-Beltway conservative movement, media, whatever you want to call it, really doesn’t cause much action to happen?

There’s a lot of writing, and there’s a lot of speaking, and there’s a lot of TV analyzing, but it stops there. There isn’t a whole lot of implementation, and we don’t see a whole lot of fighting for what for what we believe in. In fact, it’s gotten to the point where inside-the-Beltway, I think the establishment there looks at Trump as a fighter — or Cruz, anybody who’s perceived as a fighter — and he is considered unsophisticated. “This is not the way we do things,” ’cause these people don’t want to fight.

“It’s messy! You really have to go out on a limb. You might make enemies.” Nobody inside the Beltway wants any enemies. Have you happened to notice…? Here’s a further illustration before I go back to this. It’s a great illustration of how conservatives inside the Beltway are illustrating this out-of-touch theory of mine. Have you seen…? I, frankly, think I can’t be surprised anymore. Have you seen the number of conservative media people promoting Joe Biden? Have you? Are you aware of this?

If you’re not, there are a number of conservative bloggers, writers, media people saying great things about Biden. “He’s an honest guy! He’s a decent guy!” We all know who Biden is. He’s a plagiarist. He’s a phony. But more than this, the guy who destroyed Robert Bork, he tried to destroy Clarence Thomas. People on our side are promoting his candidacy on the idea he’s a “nice guy” and honest. Don’t want to fight even Biden? And it reminds me that when Obama named Eric Holder attorney general, same people on our side inside the Beltway started praising the choice of Eric Holder.

Oh, yes!

They had to be seen as sophisticated and certainly not seen as fighting and opposing.